Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

News Release Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Division of Agriculture – University of Arkansas

May 21, 2008

CONTACTS: Dr. Curt Rom, Professor of Horticulture 479-575-7434 / [email protected] Dr. Elena Garcia, Extension Fruit Specialist 479-575-2790 / [email protected] Heather Friedrich, Program Technician 479-575-5357 / [email protected]

By Fred Miller, Science Editor 479-575-5647 / [email protected] Scientists develop holistic system for organic production

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – An integrated management approach to organic horticulture requires a new way of looking at fruit and vegetable production, according to scientists at the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture.

“It’s a very holistic system that I like to call ‘horticulture homeopathy’,” said Curt

Rom, professor of horticulture.

Extension horticulturalist Elena Garcia led two two-day workshops for county extension agents in May to share what she, Rom and other scientists have learned from comprehensive research programs at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station,

USDA and land grant university systems in other states. The training sessions are part of the Arkansas research and extension program designed to move new science-based information directly to organic fruit and vegetable producers.

Rom leads a research team in two projects with USDA funding through the

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Southern Region. “Best

Management Practices for Organic Orchards” seeks to develop effective management of soil quality and pest control that not only stay within USDA guidelines for organic production, but also are based on long-range goals for sustaining profitable agricultural production. A second project, “Off-Season Organic Berry Production using High Tunnels,” is a collaborative project with the University of Georgia. Growing berries under the shelter of translucent fabric tunnels protects them from cooler temperatures and harsh weather in order to begin the production season earlier and extend it later. Arkansas researchers are working with blackberries and raspberries; Georgia scientists are working with blueberries.

Garcia leads a Southern SARE-funded training program, “Building Organic

Horticulture Extension Training Capacity in the Southeast,” in cooperation with U of A

Pine Bluff and land grant universities in South Carolina, North Carolina and Alabama.

She said the research and extension programs work hand-in-hand.

“It’s an integrated organic program to develop new science and technology and get that information to growers as it develops,” Rom said.

Rom and Garcia said they have come to view the organic system holistically in the sense that everything is connected and soil quality is the crux.

“You can’t just look at how much nitrogen is needed to maximize yield,” Garcia said. “You have to look at how that added nitrogen will affect disease or pest control.”

Rom said the system requires planning farther in advance than traditional agricultural systems.

“This is not just problem management,” Rom said. “It’s problem avoidance.

We’re looking at how to make decisions now that prevent soil fertility or pest control problems from occurring later on. Management practices have to be scheduled ahead for multiple years in order to sustain soil and avoid pests or diseases.”

Rom said such an integrated approach requires the integration of many disciplines. The horticulture scientists include Rom, Garcia and research technicians

Heather Friedrich and Jason McAfee. Collaborators in the Division of Agriculture include entomologist Donn Johnson, agricultural economist Jennie Popp, soil scientist Mary

Savin and plant pathologist Terry Kirkpatrick.

News releases and photos are available online at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/392.htm